Dark Alliance
by Katrina S. Forest
Summary: The Horcruxes had a single purpose – to protect Voldemort from death. And now it had become Harry's purpose as well. AU
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own any of J.K. Rowling's characters, plot, magical universe, ect. If I did, this would be called an original work and not a fanfic. Note the setting. There are spoilers here.

_Note: This story takes place towards the end of the 7th book, when Harry is going out to meet Voldemort after discovering himself to be the last Horcrux. A lot of OOC stuff on Harry's part, but I promise it's not totally pointless. _

**Chapter 1**

"I want to join you." Harry said the phrase in Parseltongue so that none of the Death Eaters would understand it. The sheer look of shock and confusion on Voldemort's face was amusing enough, almost as much as he anticipated it would be. Inside he felt a strange sense of confidence and superiority, something he hadn't felt for a long time.

Voldemort was suspicious, of course. "What trickery is this?" he hissed back. The death eaters all looked at each other frightened, concocting theories as to what their master and his nemesis could possibly be conversing about in their strange snake-like speech.

"No trickery," Harry assured him coolly. "Just a bit of advice. You don't want to kill me."

Voldemort sneered. "Aren't you a little biased to be giving me that advice?" he asked.

"I can see your point," Harry agreed. "Nevertheless, for someone who only has two out of eight Horcruxes remaining, I would suggest not doing anything rash."

The dark wizard's initial reaction was anger, confirming what he already suspected, that someone besides himself knew about the Horcruxes. He controlled his anger quickly, however, —unusual for him, Harry noted— and turned to his curiosity.

"If you know so much about the Horcruxes," he whispered, as if the Death eaters could actually understand him. "Then you would know that eight is not the correct number." He was avoiding saying exactly how many there were, probably to make Harry think there were more.

"Oh, there's eight," he assured him. "You thought there were seven, right?" Voldemort looked ready to have another fit of anger here but contained himself. "You made the other one… unknowingly," Harry summarized. He placed his hand over his own, surprisingly calm heartbeat. "I'm your last Horcrux, Voldemort."

The look of surprise and shock was even more impressive than his first one. "Do not mock me!" he hissed. "I am not so easily fooled!" He pointed the tip of his cold wand directly at Harry's throat but did not utter the words of the curse that Harry knew he longed to. He was still hesitant, nervous that maybe, just maybe, what the boy said was true.

"Ask me to do something," Harry suggested. "Anything you can think of to prove myself." Voldemort pondered this for a moment and said with a serpent's smile.

"Very well, Perform the killing curse." Harry shrugged his shoulders. It was such a predictable challenge. His old self would have never raised a hand to kill, not even his worst enemy. He'd nearly gotten himself killed by disarming a death eater rather than using that curse, completely given himself away. This new self, however, had no qualms about taking a life…" Harry withdrew his wand and Voldemort kept his own pressed tightly against his neck. He wasn't going to take any chance that the boy would use the curse on him. If Harry so much as tried to turn in Voldemort's direction, he'd be dead.

"Anyone in particular?" Harry asked. Voldemort glanced over the array of still-terrified and confused faces in front of them.

"You've dueled most of them. Don't take out anyone useful." Harry nodded and pointed his wand at the first person who caught his eye. A short somewhat stupid-looking fellow who wasn't even carrying a wand and looked about ready to wet himself.

"Avada Kedavra!" he said quickly. The green light flew and the group of death eater scattered quickly. Narcissa Malfoy let out a very childish-sounding scream. The man who had been the subject of his curse lay dead on the ground. He smiled confidently and put the wand away.

"Anything else?" he offered. "I'll use it on one of the Hogwarts students, if you really want me to."

There was a long pause before Voldemort answered him. The wand retreated a bit from his neck. "No," he finally said. "No, I think that will be sufficient." Neither of them moved, and finally Harry assumed he could face Voldemort again, being careful to make it clear his hands were not making any further moves for his wand..

"How did this happen?" Voldemort asked, now looking thoroughly fascinated. He might have been a child asking how a science experiment worked.

"I'm not sure myself, to be honest," Harry admitted. "It happened the moment I found out… what I was. It was like something awakened in me. I felt powerful, confident, not the shrinking coward I was before. And I thought, What sense is there in fighting against the person I am destined to help keep alive? That is my purpose, it has been since you transformed me that night. It's obvious."

Voldemort nodded, stroking his long fingers on Nagini's snout as he took all this in. Harry hoped he did not ask for more clarification, for he certainly had none. Both of them knew that Horcruxes were rare enough, and a human being becoming one, there was simply no precedent for it. Yet realizing he was such a human had changed his alliance completely, as if somehow he had been awakened from a long sleep. As the two of them stood silently watching each other, the huge serpent around Voldemort's neck lifted its head in curiosity. It then began to slither down Voldemort's arm, which the dark wizard stretched out to allow it better movement. It then did something neither of them had witnessed before. Nagini began to move from Voldemort's hand towards Harry. Harry put his hand out and the neck began to coil itself around him, confirming him as its ally. The owner of the two Horcruxes seemed marvelously satisfied. "This changes things quite a bit," he said, smiling. "We still have quite a bit of work to do ahead of us."

Harry smiled. "Where do you suggest we begin?" he asked. Voldemort was holding his hand out expentantly before he even finished his sentence.

"Your arm, if you wouldn't mind…" he said. He was speaking in a human's voice again, as human as the dark wizard's could be, so that every last Death Eater would understand. Harry did not mind at all and rolled up the sleeve on his left arm, exposing it to Voldemort's readied wand.

It hurt a bit more than he expected, but the pain was strangely satisfying. Voldemort performed the spell without a word, as Harry watched the skin beneath the wand's glow smoke and darken to form a black skull with a snake protruding from its toothy grin. He wore the Dark Mark well.


	2. Chapter 2

_a/n: Thanks for the feedback so far. I may try to write some kind of prologue - that sounds like fun. Just so people don't have the wrong expectations, however, it is not a slash fic. I simply listed Harry and Voldemort as the main characters because they're the ones who are most important in the story. No slash, no shonen-ai. _**  
**

**Chapter 2**

It took Voldemort twice as long as he might have anticipated to convince his Death Eaters that Harry Potter was now a member of their ranks. First there was actually showing them, then there was shooting a series of curses in their direction when someone dared to question if he was sure about this. After a few random shots that took down the limbs of the surrounding trees, no one else argued, and a few scouts went to gather those who were on patrol farther out in the woods. Their strategy would be changing quite dramatically now.

"So how should we end this then?" Harry asked, indicating the besieged Hogwarts castle behind them.

Voldemort seemed to be plotting, or rather he seemed to already have a plot in mind but was unsure of whether or not to execute it.

"You may be very helpful in ending this quickly," he mused. They were away from the rest of the Deatheaters now. Only Nagini overheard their conversation, and she relished in it.

"Do you know why it is, Potter, that one cannot Disapparate in or out of Hogwarts?"

"No," Harry admitted. "I know the house elves can do it, but humans can't. I assumed it was a charm or something."

"Or something is quite the understatement. It is a charm, but a very powerful one. It can only be broken by an extremely powerful wizards, presumably the headmaster of Hogwarts, and even then, the location of where the charm has been cast is a closely guarded secret. Even I do not know its location, and were I able to Disapparate into the school to look for, it would hardly be of any concern, now would it?"

Harry could vaguely see where this line of thinking was going.

"But you think I could find out where it is?" he asked. Voldemort sighed.

"Even under torture, few of the Hogwarts teachers have relayed any kind of useful information to me. I think they would be much easier to question if you were the one doing it."

"My pleasure," Harry assured him. He thought he heard Voldemort muttering something of perhaps having killed Snape off too soon, and decided it best not to mention anything about it.

Harry approached the Hogwarts castle limping slightly. His face was smeared with mud and his sleeves were torn. A few cuts and bruises dotted his face and hands. It had to look good, after all. With the Death Eaters having fallen back, the wizards guarding the gates immediately opened them and allowed him passage. He coughed a bit before speaking as a small crowd gathered around him, happy to see he was safe.

"Where were you?" he heard someone asking. Ginny maybe?

"No, now, give the boy some air," someone else said. It sounded vaguely like Slughorn. He coughed again.

"Professor McGonagall…" he gasped out. "Where is she? I need to speak with her right away."

A bit of murmuring from the crowd and a few people towards the back began shuffling around. Harry squinted pretending to be just barely conscious. In a few moments, the head of his former house was standing next to him, pulling him aside and the crowd around them began to disperse, turning back to treating the wounded an burying the dead. After all, few minutes remained until Voldemort had promised to restart the battle.

"What is it?" Professor McGonagall was asking. "We couldn't find you anywhere… Goodness, but we were worried about you…"

"Professor," Harry gasped. "Listen, I know where it is. The thing Dumbledore wanted me to find."

She seemed a bit taken back, but gathered herself quickly. "Have you then? Well, that's excellent." An awkward pause. "Where is it then?" she asked.

"That's the problem," Harry said. "I know... I know it's the room that holds the castle's charms – you know, the ones that prevent disappearing in and out of Hogwarts? But I don't know where that room is. Please, Professor, you've got to help me…" McGonagall's eyes had grown suddenly stern.

"Harry, only the headmaster and a few professors know where that room is, and we are all sworn to secrecy on it. I'm not sure how you found out it existed, but…"

"Dumbledore told me," Harry said, which seemed to be a good explanation for just about anything irrational he tried to do. "Dumbledore told me to look for it. Once I find it, we can defeat Volde… you-know-who, professor. Please, you've got to tell me where it is!" He was becoming so dramatic he feared he may be overdoing it. The pained look in McGonagall's eyes told him he had not reached that point just yet.

"I…" she said hesitantly, looking around. She looked desperately around as if the walls would tell her what to do.

"I…. very well, then, I will show you where it is. However, you are not to see how we get there or how we return. Agreed?" Harry thought for a moment. His plan will still work, even with those conditionals enforced.

"Agreed he said.

The professor did a marvelous misdirection spell on Harry before they started in the direction of the secret room. Everything was completely black, and though he continued to walk forward, it felt to him as if he was always going in a straight line, though me knew they must be turning corners and going up and down a number of steps, for they walked for several minutes. Finally, they came to a stop, and for a for moments, Harry stood in the darkness, seeing nothing, feeling nothing. Then in one smooth motion, the veil of obscurity of dropped and Harry found himself standing in a small tight room, not much larger than his so-called bedroom at the Durselreys. A number of sparking balls lines the wall, looking much like a set of Christmas lights. The glow from them was soft peaceful, but incredibly strong and annoying. These were the charms he would have to break. But not him. He wasn't strong enough for it. Only one person he knew of was…

"Well, Potter?" McGonagall asked, "Do you see what you were looking for?"

Harry did not answer. His mind was retreating, allowing another one to take over, one that could actually cast the powerful spell needed to break the charms in the tiny room. He felt his hand grab for his wand, his voice shout out a spell he did not know.

McGonagall screamed. All at once, the lights in the room shattered, sending what would have been shards of glass to the floor, only the shards disappeared before they hit the stone tiles. Around him, he could sense the Death Eaters Apparating into the castle in huge numbers. The fighting would stop quickly.

"No!" McGonagall cried, or at least she would have if Voldemort didn't immediately knock her unconscious.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

_a/n: Sorry I took forever to post this chapter. Things got crazy at work. Hopefully the next few will come a lot quicker._

Minerva McGonagall lay recovering in the infirmary. The battle for Hogwarts had not really been a battle at all. Once a hundred or so Death Eaters suddenly appeared in the middle of the school, even the most stubborn fighters gave in fairly peacefully. Voldemort gave a reassuring speech that he would continue to utilize the school as a educational facility for young wizards, and, to demonstrate how forgiving he was, allowed them time to mourn their losses and treat their injuries. Harry didn't believe a word he said, and probably neither did anyone else, but since the only resistance anyone was offering was a bit of muttering here and there, his sincerity hardly mattered.

"Nevertheless," Harry mused to himself. "We'll have to get the school in at least some resemblance of its former self. If we don't pacify them even a bit, they'll rebel eventually. And that'll be annoying."

Once he'd left McGonagall unconscious, Harry relied on the invisibility cloak to get around. There was so much satisfaction to be had by revealing himself as the betrayer, but too much to gain by keeping himself a secret. He wasn't quite sure where Voldemort was at the moment. His speech and come out as a disembodied voice reverberating through the walls of the school. However, Harry had at least a good guess where he might be.

The door to the headmaster's chamber was completely clear, there were a few Death Eaters on guard here and there in the hallway, but of course, none of them saw Harry pass.

It was most unusual to enter without a password. The paintings were down and facing the wall, and the ghosts within them were probably surveying the damage downstairs anyway. Voldemort was standing with his back to the door, admiring his new territory. Seeing that no one else was in the room, Harry removed the cloak.

"Nice view," he commented. Voldemort was not at all surprised to see him suddenly appear; he didn't even turn around.

"Did anyone else see you?" he inquired. Harry shook his head.

"Just McGonagall."

"She will not be a problem," Voldemort said coolly. Harry raised an eyebrow.

"You invaded her mind?" he asked with curiosity.

"I invaded it, yes, but there was no need to change any memories." He paused, looking quite pleased with himself. "Poor thing. She's completely convinced that I must have somehow possessed you, or else created an illusion of you. She's holding onto the hope that you're still alive somewhere." This news was both a comfort and an annoyance to Harry.

"So I have to stay hidden?" he asked, a bit glumly.

"Is that a problem?"

"No, I suppose not," he replied, folding the cloak in his arms and placing it in a nearby velvet chair.

"Tell me," he said quietly. "Does the elder wand work for you?"

Voldemort was clearly taken back by the question, and clearly irritated at Harry for asking it. Harry might have been the only Death Eater he would actually protect rather than kill, but it didn't mean he tolerated being questioned. Harry would have to try and remember his place a bit better.

"Sorry, of course it does," he said, lowering his eyes. Voldemort said nothing but took out the so-called death stick and played with it delicately in his fingers. Just the way he had toyed with it moments before Snape's death.

"No," he finally said with hushed anger. "No, it does not." Harry soon realized that Voldemort was not merely turning the wand around in fingers. He was pressing into it with all his strength, attempting to calm his fury with its repetitive turns. "I do not understand… why? I took it from Dumbledore. I murdered Severus for it. Why will it still not obey me?"

Harry sympathized with the frustration in his voice, wondered the same thing. He tried to think back over Snape's memories – the very ones which had awakened him. The moment he pulled his head form that Pensive, his entire perspective had changed. What was it Dumbledore had said about the wand? He wanted Snape to kill him personally, not Draco. He had meant for Snape to be the owner of the wand, then? Harry still wasn't sure if the wand needed to pass by death. Wouldn't it simply change alliance because the previous owner was disarmed… And if that was the case…

"Snape wasn't the owner," he said, so quietly that he was surprised Voldemort heard him.

"What did you say?"

"I said Snape wasn't the owner…" Harry was pacing now. "I can't believe I didn't realize it. Draco… Draco disarmed Dumbledore before Snape killed him. And I disarmed Draco back at Malfoy Manor…" He stared into the serpent like face, barely believing his own conclusion.

"I can't be…"

"You?!" Voldemort hissed. He turned and gripped his hands on the desk that once belonged to Albus Dumbledore. With one clean motion and a yell of frustration, he turned it over. Papers went flying everywhere and the phoenix in the nearby cage trembled and cawed. Voldemort breathed heavily looking at the mess on the floor.

"You… you…" he was muttering over and over again. Even as his ally, Harry Potter was still getting in his way.

"You don't have to kill me to take the wand," Harry reminded him. "You just have to disarm me."

This seemed like good advice apparently. Voldemort quickly reached into his robes and drew his wand. But Harry was just a moment too soon. He dodged as the Expelliamus spell bounded past him.

"Stay still!" Voldemort hissed.

"It doesn't work like that!" Harry reminded him. "It can't be arranged! Unless you take my wand despite my will to keep it, it won't change its alliance!" Voldemort seemed to be looking around the room to find out if there was another table he could turn over.

"Come on," said Harry, hoping to calm him down. The room probably could only take so many fits of his rage. "You're the strongest wizard in history. A few duels and even though I want the wand, I won't be able to keep it from you."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

"No! Not again!" Voldemort's screams of frustration echoed throughout the school. Or at least the room of requirement. No one else knew why they were here, not even the Death Eaters. They needed to duel – a real duel – and Voldemort had to win. He just… wasn't.

Harry was rather shocked himself. He didn't expect to be able to hold his master off so well. He never did that well in class. Nearly every one of his moves was made in a panic. He had never seen Voldemort fighting so quickly before, either.

"I just got lucky that time!" he said, breathing deeply. He meant it honestly, too. By all accounts, the wand should have switched owners by now. Not that it bothered him. That was essential. He had to – and did – want to keep the wand in his possession.

"Luck, is it?" Voldemort snapped. He turned behind him and the wand that Harry had knocked out of his hand during the fight flew back into his grip. A large stone statue behind him shattered to pieces, feeling the blow of Voldemort's anger. This seemed to appease the dark wizard as he stood taking in deep breaths, seeming to ponder over something. "Luck… luck…" he kept muttering. If he said any other words, Harry did not hear him.

"Tell me, Potter, what would you say of Snape as a potion's master?" he suddenly asked. It seemed it must be rhetorical question. Voldemort had certainly known Snape longer than Harry had.

"As a maker of potions, the man was brilliant. As a teacher, he was pathetic. Either way, he's dead now."

"Too true…" Voldemort sighed. "But I believe someone has a certain stone that could rectify that problem to some degree, is that not true?"

Harry was embarrassed at his own stupidity. The resurrection stone was tucked safely away with his other possessions. He hadn't even thought about it in the past few days.

"If you wouldn't mind waking Severus for a bit…" Voldemort said quietly. "There is a matter I'd like to speak with him on."

Voldemort left Harry alone in the room of requirement to execute his plans. There was no better place for it, and there were other matters that needed attending. He wanted in particular to see what how the rearranged Hogwarts classes were getting along.

Alone in the empty space, the rubble of their battle settling around him, Harry grasped the stone tightly. He knew he could use it, though how exactly he wasn't quite sure. Perhaps there was a spell to say? A certain motion to make? As he tightened his grip, he felt his mind slipping off, as if going into a trance. From his lips emerged words that he did not understand. It was almost as if the stone had spoken through him, telling him what words would evoke his powers.

From the dust floating about the room, a figure began to take shape. A figure with a familiar, sour face, and greasy black hair.

It was strange seeing Snape in this form. The last time he had seen the man, he was lying on the floor with blood gushing from his neck. To see him in this form… translucent, pale (well, he was usually pale anyway, but more so now), and not even standing on any solid surface, but merely floating there… it was all somewhat strange. Yet it brought Harry a certain degree of power, and he ran his fingers over the resurrection stone to remind himself of this very fact.

Snape's initial expression was shock, confusion. He looked around the room like someone who'd been apparated there and had no clue how. His eyes narrowed when they met Harry's however. His hatred seem to energize him and his face fell to its normal, calm, judgmental expression.

"Well, well, this is a surprise," he said with his usual nasally tone. "I didn't think you'd still be around, Potter. Tell me, was there something in the Pensive that confused you that you need me to clarify?"

"No, no, I understood quite well," Harry assured him. He couldn't have told more truth. He understood. He understood who he was, how he was destined for much greater things than anyone else thought or dreamed. "Actually, I called you here for something completely unrelated."

"Is that so?" Snape was trying terribly hard to act as if he could truly care less what Harry called him there for, but he was failing in Harry's mind. It was driving him mad to know, Harry thought, it was written in his face. He relished in it as long as he could before speaking.

"The Dark Lord requires your assistance." This caught Snape off guard as well. Harry had always said, "Voldemort, Voldemort," to the frustration of everyone around him. "Dark Lord" and "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" never left his lips.

"Is that so?" Snape asked, still feigning indifference. "Well, I imagine he's learned by now that he is seeking loyalty where it does not lay. I have no more ties to the Dark Lord any more than I do to the world of the living."

"Now, now, you can still be quite useful," said Harry mockingly. "Even with your… disabilities." He passed his wand just past Snape's arm, to remind him of how it wasn't really there.

The movement of his arm caused his left sleeve to slip just a bit. It was annoying – he had hoped to hold off, teasing Snape just a bit more before reveling it. But the former Death Eater knew the mark of his kind better than anyone. Just a small glimpse was enough to give it away.

"Your arm… that's impossible," he said, whispering through the shock.

"Oh," said Harry, glancing down at the mark nonchalantly. "Nice of you to notice. I thought it was strange, too, but when I came out of the Pensive, when I knew what I was, it was like everything around me changed. So I guess I have you to thank for this then, don't I?" He pulled the sleeve back so that the mark was much more visible to Snape's eyes. The man had no words; his lips just sort of shook in disbelief. Oh, it was wonderful. He held his arm in the air for a few minutes before pulling it back down.

"Now, as I said before, the Dark Lord needs your assistance," he said. "I suggest you provide it if you don't want to face… undesirable consequences."

At this, Snape laughed. Harry couldn't recall if he'd actually seen Snape laughing before, so it was a bit creepy.

"Undesirable consequences, Potter?" he asked. "Look at me. My body is gone, anything I cared about in life, also gone. There is not a single thing you could possibly threaten me with."

"That so?" Harry asked. He suspected it would come to this. The stone he had been fingering in his pocket he now brought out visibly. Perhaps Snape understood that this was the object that had called him back from his sleep, and perhaps he did not. In either case…

"Well then, if there is nothing else in this world that you care about, perhaps I should call something here. Or someone?"

Snape was able to hold his uncaring façade no longer. Upon Harry's suggestion, upon his realization of what Voldemort's new servant planned to do, his narrow face fell in desperation.

"No," he said, sternly, quietly. He was shaking his head just ever so slightly. "No, do not bring her into this…"

"I wonder how it feels," Harry went on. "To be pulled back form death. I understand it's fairly undesirable. Not to mention the idea of seeing that your only son has turned to serving your murderer."

Snape's expression was fierce and even more desperate now, and Harry was completely relishing in it.

"I'm telling you, do not bring her into this! She…"

"You'll comply with the dark lord's demands then?" Harry asked. Snape bit his lip. He wanted to agree… it was so obvious. Somewhere in the back of Harry's mind, though, he was almost hoping that he would resist just a bit longer.

"I… I cannot…" he managed to stutter out. That was all that Harry needed. He gripped the stone once again, and again, he uttered the words he did not know. As before, the dust in the room began to gather, forming a familiar figure. Somewhere in the chaos, Harry could hear Snape's yell of anguish and wished he wasn't so focused on the resurrection spell so that he could listen more properly. Nevertheless, when he was pulled into the reality of the room once again, he got a nice look at Snape's horrified face and the rather bewildered expression of his mother.

Snape was backing away from Lily as if she were some kind of poisonous creature. Like him, she seemed to have no idea how she had come to be where she was. She was just as Harry remembered seeing her, in the photos, in the mirror's visions. Her eyes scanned the room and finally fell on her son.

"Harry…" she whispered, clasping her hands together.

"Hello there," he allowed. She looked around again. Her eyes had found Snape now, despite his best attempts to cower away from her.

"What am I…?" she asked. She was looking at her son again. Worry was engraved in her face. It made sense. She should've been able to notice this drastic a change in him. "What's happened to you?" she asked fearfully.

"Mom," he said silkily, taking a step towards her. She didn't want to believe what he had become, of course, so therefore she would be easy to manipulate. Harry's motion brought Snape out of his cowering, and he moved closer, though not near close enough to touch her. (As if he could touch her anyway.)

"Stay back," he warned. "He isn't your son."

Harry was almost insulted. "I beg your pardon," he said. "Just because my attitude has changed is no reason to suggest I am a different person."

The pain in Snape's face was delectable. Lily was clearly confused and upset, growing more so in the silence that lingered in the room. Yet he did not want to be the one to explain it to her. He had already caused her so much pain.

"He's… he's different," Snape said quietly.

"That's better," said Harry, nodding. "Tell you what, why don't I let you two lovebirds catch up for a while? I'll be needed elsewhere for now." Without allowing either of them to speak further, he tucked the resurrection stone back in his pocket, and pulled the invisibility cloak back over himself. The door of the room opened on its own, and closed on its own as well, leaving the ghosts of Severus Snape and Lily Potter alone in the silence.


	5. Chapter 5

_a/n: I'm totally flattered by the number of people who have added this to their story alert. (more than any of my completed stories.) But if you add the story without leaving reviews, it's kinda hard for me to tell what you liked/didn't like. If you want to leave me to my own devices, that's up to you. ;) Thank you very much either way. _

Chapter 5

Draco Malfoy didn't understand much of what was going on these days. Everything around him seemed to be crazy. He had no idea how the Death Eaters had suddenly gotten through Hogwart's defenses, no one seemed to know that. Perhaps some of the professors knew, but if they did, they weren't talking. Then there was what his mother had told him. That was the most puzzling of all.

_"For your own safety, Draco, avoid Harry Potter at all costs."_ Avoid him? What kind of advice was that? He abhorred him. The two had spent much of their spare time at school infuriating each other. But the strangeness of the request wasn't that Draco would've done it anyway. It was the fact that, according to the rest of the school, Harry had died when the Death Eaters suddenly entered. It wasn't that difficult to avoid a dead person. So naturally, he had questioned his mother on it.

"Avoid him? He's dead, isn't he?" His mother was distraught and nervous, as she had been for several weeks now. They were far from Voldemort's favor, and any little slip up, anything at all, was a perfectly good excuse to wipe their family off the map. How far the Malfoys had fallen, Draco thought dejectedly.

"Draco, if I explain this to you, you've got to swear you won't say it to anyone else. Please."

He'd promised all kinds of things while at school, and done very few of them. He agreed to this as well. What his mother had said next still echoed in his mind.

"Harry is alive. And he's one of the Death Eaters now. The dark lord's favorite, it seems."

"What?" Draco had whispered incomplete disbelief. "Mother, you've gone mad. Harry's…"

"Do not argue with me. You asked and I told you. Most of the rest of us saw it, but you were still inside the castle. The dark lord has been keeping the boy at his side almost constantly. Almost all the rest of us are merely second-rate in comparison, and believe me, it's pushing Bellatrix to insanity. If you see him, avoid him. And don't presume you're alone, he's been prowling around in that cloak of his too."

"You're presuming we're alone," Draco had pointed out. Clearly, this was not a comforting thought to Narcissa, and he immediately apologized for making the point.

"Sorry. I'll remember it. Thank you."

He remembered, all right. He couldn't get it out of his head. When and how had Harry come to join the Death Eaters? And why would Voldemort even allow it? Hadn't he been trying to kill Harry all this time? Why suddenly make him an ally? It didn't add up, in his mind. For once, he actually wanted to see his rival again, just to disprove his mother's story, but if Harry was trying to stay hidden, what were the odds that…?

"Harry!" Draco froze. It was the Granger girl who had spoken, he recognized her voice. Quickly, he ducked behind a large column. She and someone else were talking in the empty section of hallway just ahead of him. The next time a voice spoke, it was hushed, so it was difficult to hear. Still, he made out most of it.

"Shh! Not so loud! I'm supposed to be dead, remember?"

"I'm sorry," Hermione replied. "I'm sorry, but… but we were so scared. We heard you came back, and then all the Death Eaters started appearing and, oh, Harry, it's just awful!"

"I know… I know…" Harry's voice was sappily sympathetic. It sounded just like the same person Draco had always known. Perhaps his mother had finally broken under the stress.

"Listen, I think I know how we can beat the dark lord," he said quietly. Draco froze. Hermione's next words voiced his thoughts.

"Since when do you call him that?"

"What does it matter what I call him? Listen, though, I've got the perfect solution. It's so obvious we should have thought of it before."

"And what's that?" If Hermione had suspicions, her tone indicated she was pushing them off.

"Felix felices," Harry whispered. There was a long pause as Hermione contemplated her reply.

"Harry, if you're suggesting I can make that potion, there's no way. The ingredients are incredibly rare, and the process is hugely complicated, not to mention a total secret. Maybe Snape would've been able to, but anyone else…"

"Oh, Snape can do it," Harry assured her.

"Harry," she said seriously. "Snape died. We both saw it."

"Of course he died. But that doesn't mean he still can't teach." That made no sense to Draco whatsoever, but apparently to Hermione it did.

"You used the resurrection stone?"

"Of course. It was the only way to get him back. Listen. Snape can teach you how to make it, and I can take care of finding the materials, so don't worry about that. Once it's made, all I have to do is take a bit of it, and…"

Hermione wasn't listening. "You used the resurrection stone…" she was repeating. "Harry, I know Snape's evil and all of that, but you remember the story. It's like torturing a person to bring them back."

"Snape deserves it, doesn't he?" Harry pressed. He got no positive response, so he changed his tactics. "Besides, who else could I ask? We have to do this, Hermione. It's our only chance." Again, she still did not answer. At least not for a good minute.

"He's agreed to help?" she finally asked with suspicion.

"I'm… I'm working at that," Harry finally admitted. "He will, though, trust me." Harry sounded so completely confident that Draco even believed him, even though he only had half a clue what he was talking about.

"I'll see you later. Think about it," Harry finally said, sounding like he was getting ready to leave. Draco froze. If Harry started walking this way, he would see him for sure. However, the footsteps began heading in the opposite direction, before they were snuffed out by the swishing of the Invisibility Cloak. Draco waited a good long while even after he was sure Harry was gone before walking out from his hiding place. The Granger girl was still sitting there wringing her hands, in confusion and whatever else she was feeling right now.

"Hey," Draco whispered quietly. She jumped a mile and gave out a yelp like an injured dog. Her eyes fell to Draco and immediately burned with dislike.

"What do you want?" she asked.

"Nothing," he said defensively. "I just…" Well, he didn't have any decent way to explain himself other than the truth, so that's what he gave her. "I was just listening in."

Clearly, this news was not pleasing to Hermione. She was shaking her head frightfully, and yet she looked like she might go for her wand at any moment.

"You low… you'd tell them, wouldn't you? Go straight to the Death Eaters and tell them that Harry's still alive?"

"They already know," he said.

"Oh, right." She had never used sarcasm when he was around her, and it sounded strange.

"They do! My mother told me, right before I came here and overheard you two talking. She said that…" Here he stopped himself immediately. He knew when he promised his mother he would say nothing, that he was only somewhat likely to hold to it, but he didn't expect to be breaking his promise less than an hour after making it.

"She said that what?" Hermione was asking, impatient but curious. Draco's mind raced. Should he tell her? He still wasn't sure he totally believed it himself, but the way Harry talked, the way his mother was so worried…

"She said he's a Death Eater now," he told her, quietly as possible. That really made her mad.

"You're low, Draco."

"I'm just repeating what she told me. She said he's Voldemort's favorite, and was telling me to avoid him, and…"

"I'm not listening to your nonsense!" Hermione said angrily. She gripped her books as tightly as she could and turned to leave.

"Have you ever heard him use the term, 'dark lord' before? Ever?" Draco asked her. That got Hermione to stop walking away from him, though not to turn around and face him. There was a long awkward silence.

"If you want to check," Draco finally said quietly. "The Dark Mark is branded on the left arm. It'll be black now, what with you-know-who so close."

"I know where it is," Hermione snapped. She continued walking, buried in her anger. Her drab brown, tattered robed followed behind her. That was one of the first changes Voldemort had made. The mudbloods he didn't decide to kill were given completely different dress, to make it obvious how low they were. He only hoped her intelligence would still serve her just as well. There wasn't much else to do besides that.


	6. Chapter 6

_a/n: Sorry for taking so long to update. I've been working on one of my original stories, so this kind of started taking a back seat. Hope you enjoy! Thank you so much for the comments! -Katrina_

Chapter 6

It had been a long night, a very long night. In this phantom form, Snape had discovered that he needed no sleep. So every single hour had been spent with Lily Potter as his side. What would've sounded like a dream in younger years was nothing of the sort now. For a long time, she simply sobbed, taking no notice of the fact that he was even there. Then, the silence. That was the worst part. Her emotions were somewhat under control, but she still wasn't speaking to him. And he didn't blame her either. Wasn't it his fault that all this had happened? Wasn't he the one who had gone and told Voldemort about the prophesy in the first place? Made her and her son a target? The dark wizard would've never come tot the house that night, never made that connection, however inadvertently, between himself and Harry. Any way he tried to make excuses for himself as he sat there, to convince himself that his aiding Dumbledore and risking his life had somehow made up for it, none of it worked. He couldn't even convince himself, much less her.

Finally, they had began talking. Light conversation, at first, nothing related to the horrors that were going on around them. She asked about the school, and he told her about how he had become a teacher. She asked how he had died – that was awkward. She started to inquire about how Harry did at school, but it only brought up the painful memories of the past few hours, and she cut herself off there.

"I can't believe it…" she said. She'd said that about a dozen times so far. "Why would he…? Why would he…?"

Snape had tried to explain calmly what Dumbledore had told him, what he knew, though how little he understood was obvious. After they had spoken at length, Lily seemed even worse off than she was before,

"So…" she said quietly, avoiding his eyes. "So this whole thing is my fault then? Because I tried to protect him? It was my spell that caused…"

"No!" Snape interrupted her furiously. "No, how could you think like that? If it wasn't for you, Harry would've been killed that first night." He narrowed his eyes, trying his best to read her half-hidden, translucent face.

"You don't believe that anyway," he finally concluded. At this, he looked at him a bit confused, but said nothing. Snape continued, "If you want to blame someone, blame me. In either case, it won't help to get your son out of this predicament." It was strange how much being blunt rather than sympathetic suddenly changed her mood. Not to say she brightened up by any stretch of the imagination, but at least, she seemed rational, more like the Lily he knew.

"You're right," she said with a nod, wiping her ghostly tears. "So what do you propose we do?"

* * *

Harry didn't like the way things had been going the past few days. For starters, the next time he spoke to Hermione, she brought Ron along. Predictable, of course, and there wasn't really any argument against it he could give that wouldn't make him sound suspicious. But nevertheless, it was one more person to keep track of who knew he was alive. Then there was Draco Malfoy. He'd been hanging around Hermione a lot lately, annoying her to no end apparently, because whenever he even came near, she'd storm off in a rage. That was normal, he always tortured her before. Why would it be different now? Even so, it put Harry on edge, more so than he cared to admit.

"You say you've got a plan… for how we can take back Hogwarts?" Ron was whispering excitedly. He'd been so thrilled to see his friend alive, Harry was shocked there weren't more people in the small hidden room, coming in to see what Ron was so worked up about.

"I've got an idea," Harry corrected. "But it's going to take some work on Hermione's part…" He paused for a moment, trying to think of something Ron could do so he wasn't left out. "And you would probably be really helpful in distracting the Death Eaters."

"Sure, I can do that," Ron said with a confident nod.

_Good, maybe if I'm lucky, it'll get you killed in the process_, Harry thought to himself, but of course, did not voice it. He glanced over at Hermione, who seemed to be fumbling for something in her robes.

"What's the matter?" he asked, trying not to let the tone of his suspicion override his feigned concern.

"It's my wand," she muttered, sounding rather annoyed. "They're still letting us take classes and all, if you can call them classes, but they've cursed all the students' wands so they only perform certain spells…"

"Oh, is that so?" Harry asked. "So then, what are you…?"

"The stupid wand keeps burning," she said. "It's really annoying." She finally withdrew the wand, holding it out for Harry to see. He could tell without touching it that there was some kind of spell on it. He reached out his left hand to feel the tip…

"Diffindo!" Hermione yelled the spell out before he even got a chance to react. Why had he been so stupid? He'd walked directly into her trap, directly! He might as well have gone singing and dancing while he was at it. But there was no further time or need to curse at himself. The torn remains of his left robe sleeve revealed all that Hermione and Ron needed to see.

Hermione jumped back in shock, clearly not expecting to see what she had worked so hard to reveal. Harry wasted no time in taking out his own wand and immediately disarming her.

"Think you're pretty clever, don't you, you filthy little Mudblood?" he spat. This sent Ron into a rage, which he well expected it would. His former friend, apparently over his shock, ran yelling in his direction. The amusement of the scene cooled Harry's anger considerably.

"Crucio," he called, almost casually over his shoulder. The curse hit Ron full-force, sending him to ground, writhing in pain. Hermione screamed and cried and begged him to stop, which he did, but only after he was quite sure Ron had lost the strength to get up and oppose him. As soon as he lowered the wand, Hermione immediately ran over to Ron's side, sitting him up gently and sobbing.

"How could you…? He's your friend, Harry.."

"Now," Harry went on, ignoring her completely. "I was hoping that it wouldn't come to this, but I still plan on getting what I want. First of all, you will _not_ tell anyone what you just saw." He paused to make sure she nodded. "And secondly, you _will_, under Snape's guidance, create the potion that I ask of you. Is that clear?"

She nodded again, still crying profusely. He was somewhat disappointed. As long as they had found out, he was hoping for a bigger confrontation than that. But no matter. Perhaps this would get things done more quickly, since there was no need to hide his true purpose anymore.

"I'll kill him, I swear I'll kill him…" Ron was muttering with only slight coherence while Hermione tried to calm him down. The look of pure hatred she gave Harry as she helped her boyfriend stand was utterly priceless.


End file.
